.those.italians.

we both got off work today at a reasonable hour (just after 6:30pm). so we decided to try this italian restaurant close to our 'home', called sole mio (btw - everytime i say that to myself, i think if jim carrey in whatever movie that was where he sang: 'aassssssssssolle mio!')

anyways, we didn't know how italian it would be until we walked in. everyone who worked there spoke italian. and they were hard workers, running around all over the place, each with their own tasks to keep the restaurant running like a well oiled machine. the main guy, who looked like he owned the place, was in charge of receipts and collecting payment. oh, and he was also in charge of ordering everyone around. the 2nd guy seemed to be the 1st guy's right hand man. he took the orders, and gave them to the kitchen (more on the kitchen later). then there were about 4 or 5 women who did the following: delivered food/drinks, cleared the tables, set the tables and basically ran around making sure everyone had everything they ordered/needed. it looked like a family run business, and the girls looked really young.

back to the kitchen. keep in mind there is no room in london. everything is basically on top of each other. so their process for delivering the orders to the kitchen is the following:

1. take order
2. fold up the piece of paper
3. attach a numbered clothespin to the piece of paper
4. drop the clothespined piece of paper down a tube
5. hit the tube to alert the kitchen staff that they have a new order
6. (optional) yell down the tube with additional instructions.

what does this tube look like? try to spot it in this pic below. post your guesses in comments...

ready? GO!